The Dire Consequences of Slashing U.S. Global HIV Assistance

June 22, 2017

According to Open Society Foudantions, for global health funding, the events of the past months havent´t been potentially catastrophic. But cuts this severe should worry anyone who cares about global health. By slashing AIDS funding to this degree, the United States isn’t just putting lives at risk. It’s reversing a great achievement of U.S. foreign assistance for health: providing support for socially excluded groups, and helping put them on the front lines of the fight against HIV.

These include people who use drugs, sex workers, transgender people, and sexually active adolescent girls, who not only bear the greatest burden and risk of disease in most countries, but who have organized to fight the laws (harsh anti-sodomy legislation) and policies (bans on comprehensive sexuality education in school) that have pushed them into the shadows and denied them HIV services.